In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker August 15, 2024

'In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon' arrives on Blu-ray disc courtesy of Universal. An integral contributor of the modern American songbook, this film directed by Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief) traces Simon's career from its very beginning in Queens, New York to the present day and the recording of his newest album 'Seven Psalms' which was released in 2023. The film features a voluminous amount of recollections and reminiscences from Simon, along with a treasure trove of archival photographs, clips from interviews, and most importantly, footage from a number of live performances. Graced with solid technical merits, it's sure to please Simon's legion of fans. Neither a DVD nor a slipcover is included, but it is packaged with a Digital Code redeemable through Movies Anywhere.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon opens with Simon doing an interview with a small nonprofit radio station, 94.3 KWVH, located in Wimberley, TX. Seated in the glass-walled studio, a crowd gathers outside, watching, listening and busily snapping pictures. From here, the film transitions to his studio where he is experimenting with a variety of sounds as he begins talking about the origin of his newest project, an album to be titled Seven Psalms. It's not long, though, before Simon takes us back to the very beginnings of his musical journey, from meeting Art Garfunkel when he was 10, to getting bitten by the music bug after hearing "Bye, Bye, Love" by The Everly Brothers which he immediately shared with Garfunkel. The track helped them understand harmonies, and the pair's focus on music began. By the age of 16, the two had recorded a song called "Hey, Schoolgirl" leading to Big Records signing them and dubbing the duo Tom and Jerry. The film progresses through his college years and catching Bob Dylan in the Village which prompted him to start writing on acoustic guitar. Hearing Dylan also prompted him to start crafting songs with more mature lyrics, leading to the early works of Simon and Garfunkel. The ups and downs of the tandem are given a fair amount of time as is Simon's solo career. As expected, his epic album Graceland (1986) is given a considerable amount of attention, from it's creation after several failed projects and a marriage and divorce from Carrie Fischer (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back), the subsequent tour, and dealing with the intersection of this project and Apartheid due to the national origin many of the musicians who worked on the album and the tour. Throughout it all, however, the film cycles the viewer back to the present every so often to nudge Seven Psalms closer to completion.

Due to the impact and enduring popularity of Simon and Garfunkel, happily Art Garfunkel appears in multiple voiceovers during the film's three- and-one-half-hour runtime (209 minutes). Both he and Simon have much to say about their early days, the success of the group, and the tensions that drove them apart even as they were achieving their greatest successes. Perhaps it is the impact of time and age, but neither sounds overly acrimonious about the spilt and both men take responsibility for the break-up of the duo. As the primary songwriter, Paul, it seems, was jealous of the applause Art would receive for singing songs he didn't write, and Art felt unfilled and part of a decidedly unequal partnership. Garfunkel, looking for something he couldn't get by simply adding his harmonies to the songs Simon was writing, began trying his hand at acting. After meeting director Mike Nichols while the pair worked on the soundtrack for The Graduate, Garfunkel was able to land roles in Nichols' Catch-22 (1970) and Carnal Knowledge (1971). His participation in those projects impacted the creation of the duo's Bridge Over Troubled Waters album, scuttled any plans for a tour, and caused the two to part ways. Their personal and professional lives would continue to overlap for some time after that, and his perspective is helpful.

Refreshingly, throughout In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, Paul Simon, for all of his success, is depicted as a very real person. A perfectionist in the creation process and in the studio, he endlessly picks up random instruments and objects searching for the precise sound he's seeking for any given song. Collaborator Wynton Marsalis shares Simon's perfectionist mantra, as we watch Simon tinker and complete take after take as he works to craft his new songs to his exacting standards and vision. His focus is consistently the one element that is not meeting expectations instead of all of the elements that are. We also witness the obvious affection he has for his wife musician Edie Brickell, and the bond the two share. She recounts meeting Simon for the first time while performing on Saturday Night Live when her group's hit song "What I Am" was dominating the airwaves, and we observe the pair interacting as a couple and as musicians, with the two of them holding hands as they record harmonies on one of Simon's new tracks. And for as much as we are able to see Simon young and vigorous at the height of his success in the 1970s and 1980s, the viewer also sees Simon as a man in his 80s who, despite the fame and notoriety, is like any other man of that age. Where once his voice was strong, confident, and nuanced, it is now occasionally weakened and imprecise. The impish, mischievous smile is not so quick to appear, and he's dealing with deafness in one ear.

The highlight, though, as it would be for any artist with such a long-lived and varied career is the sheer volume of archival stills and footage that spans from his Tom and Jerry days through the Graceland era. This stills and the clip of "Hey, Schoolgirl" do little to foreshadow the success he would achieve as part of the famous duo or as a solo artist. Tom and Jerry looked and sounded much like any number of groups of that era. His appearances on Saturday Night Live are also a treat. For those who weren't alive at the time or those who may have forgotten, Simon began appearing on the series from the beginning, lending not only his musical gifts to the show, but also his unexpected comedic talents. Included sketches show him playing basketball one-on-one with 6' 8" Connie Hawkins (Simon is just 5' 3") and confounding Dan Akroyd. Musically, however, the pinnacle from his performances on the series included here is his duet with George Harrison on "Here Comes the Sun". Other standout clips of performances found in the film (sadly, we're not given full readings of any songs) include his reunion with Art Garfunkel (with Simon playing a distinctive Ovation acoustic guitar) for the show in Central Park in 1981 where the pair played for over 500,000 people. Appropriately, the capstone is the triumphant and joyous footage of the Graceland tour when it visited Africa, which, while lengthy, does not go on nearly as long as it should.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon's MPEG-4 AVC encoded 1080p transfer, specifically as it pertains to the modern footage of Paul and those around him during his interview on KWVH, in his Wimberley studio and other locations as he works on his new album, is terrific. Detail levels are extremely high allowing viewers to inspect the lines and wrinkles on Simons, face, the various textures of the furnishings and instruments around the studio, and fabrics such as denim and Simon's wrinkly cotton shirt. The warm woods around the various rooms in the studio also show age, grain, and a convincing tactile presence. Skin tones from this footage are natural and healthy. Colors are pleasantly saturated, and the image has solid depth. Since this is a documentary/career retrospective, the modern footage is intercut with older material from various sources including film, television, and home video cameras. The footage from the era of his youth that depicts childhood heroes such as John F. Kennedy and Elvis fares the worst, displaying the typical damage, lines, and instability that one would expect. Television footage from the 1970s and 1980s sourced from talk shows, Saturday Night Live, American Bandstand, Letterman, and other shows is characteristically soft, with washed-out colors and other source-related issues, and looks about as good as it could. Stills typically are sharp and nicely detailed, though again there is some variability due to the source material and the magnification of the image in question.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Englsh DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that accompanies In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, most importantly, does an excellent job handling music. With some consideration kept in mind for the limitations of the source material for the oldest recordings leveraged here, the frequent musical interludes are typically the most impressive moments for the track. In virtually all of these instances, the surrounds are fully engaged and music envelopes the viewer. Vocals and acoustic guitars and other instruments are rendered with precision and fidelity. Dialogue is clean and intelligible and located front and center. Moments in the studio are likewise front-focused. Bass involvement is limited in the early goings, but starts to make it's presence more fully known when Simon and Garfunkel perform in New York's Central Park and during the Graceland material. It's a delightful track.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release of In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon does not contain any supplemental material.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Few musicians have had a career with the longevity, cultural impact, and success of Paul Simon. There aren't many who would argue that he's one of the best American songwriters to emerge since the 1960s. In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon gives fans a look at his laborious, painstaking, and yet joyous process of creating music as he crafts his most recent album, 2023's Seven Psalms. Of equal or greater value is the look back at his decades-spanning career, filled with clips from important television and concert appearances, beginning with his first work as a professional musician. While full performances of certain songs would have been appreciated, the breadth of ground covered in the film's 3.5-hour runtime is as impressive as it is engaging. With an very good video transfer and a captivating audio track, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon comes highly recommended to Paul Simon's fans and those wishing to know more about the artist.